Savannah's lawyers to assist homeless

The U.S. District judge from New Orleans learned what it's like in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which left him homeless for several months.

Now he is pushing a lawyer-based initiative to assist those whose journeys on the streets are more chronic.

Being a lawyer means having power but also responsibility, he said.

"I think - I know - it's our obligation to do more," Zainey told members of the Savannah Bar Association last week.

Beginning in January, Savannah's lawyers will begin working with the homeless in the state's first HELP chapter.

Homeless Experience Legal Protection is a rapidly growing national program in which local lawyers donate at least one hour a week in legal assistance for the homeless.

"It does not take a lot of your time," Zainey said.

He recalled a successful attorney who helped a down-and-out man with a minor legal issue.

The "client," who came in with a long face, left with a smile, Zainey said.

"I felt like I won the biggest case in my career," the lawyer told Zainey in an e-mail.

Some area attorneys already have started offering their services.

The HunterMacLean law firm and its 60 attorneys have volunteered for four months.

The Bar's Young Lawyers Division has offered another month.

Other firms and individual lawyers are expected to pledge additional time.

The return for even a short time spent on a case is priceless, Zainey said.

"Most of the clients who come to see you don't have a legal problem at all," he said. "But they don't know it."

Since Zainey started his first group in New Orleans in 2004, HELP has expanded to Washington, New York City, Chicago and San Francisco.

Savannah will be the site of Georgia's first program. In South Carolina, Columbia and Charleston are scheduled to begin the program early next year.

Attorney Jennifer Dickinson, an associate with the HunterMacLean law firm, said she sees the program as an opportunity for the private bar in Savannah to provide a relief effort for the local homeless population.

The State Bar of Georgia recommends lawyers give 50 hours a year in "pro bono" work.

Dickinson said she believes most of Savannah's lawyers do that.

The homeless population offers a whole new challenge to the private bar association.

"There are a lot of misconceptions about the homeless," she said. "They are often a disregarded segment of our population."

Homeless people face barriers to basic services "most of us can never understand," she said. They have a lot of legal issues - government benefits, identification theft, child support orders, landlord-tenant and driver's license revocations, to name a few, she said.

Existing support services often are stretched to their limits, she said.

"We're trying to support existing services," Dickinson said. "It allows us to focus our collective efforts for a bigger impact."

Zainey agrees.

"Commit for a month. We're talking about four hours," he told local lawyers. "It's truly simple. You can change people's lives."